Two Fives or a Ten
by tragically hip
Summary: Lupin and Snape meet a few years into the fight with Voldemort.
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Two Fives or a Ten

What do you think about when you hear the word War? Is it the gutter and the howl of the rifles? A million murdered men lying grey in the mud? When I think about war I see only the faces I used to know, now they are either dead or unrecognisable.

We were never what you might call friends, quite the opposite I suppose, I have not seen him for five years, he has been spying on Voldemort, he was there in Wales, he was there in the battle with the aurors, he saw the massacre in the ministry. He has been there since the beginning and he is still there now. 

I am almost afraid when I see him standing in the doorway of the bar because I have no idea what I will say to him now. His eyes cross the nearly deserted room until they rest on me in the corner. "Lupin." His voice is cool and hollow like winter rain. "Hello Severus," We both sit down. "Beer?" I ask and he nods. We are silent while the waitress brings them over, he pours the beer slowly down the sides of our glasses. I am looking at the scars on his hands, they cross the knuckles like broken train tracks going nowhere. We raise the glasses and swallow, the coolness running down my throat. "There was another one killed last night." I look up as he speaks, "Muggle." He drains the glass, "Let's get whisky." The waitress is quick, she is wearing a perfume I think I recognise and she smiles at us as though nothing in the world is wrong.

Grey mists of silence fold awkwardly around as we wait. I try to measure the changes in him but it is impossible. He stares through me and his eyes are cold and dark and liquid as night skies. It seems as if we have decayed in the tepid morning light. "Its good whisky." I say, he half smiles but it is like a dead thing on his pallid face. I wonder what he has seen that killed him so completely. I have seen so many people changed but somehow I thought it would never happen to him. "Do you remember that night in the shrieking shack?" I ask. 

"With Black and Pettigrew?" I nod. "Of course," He says, there is no expression in his voice as he continues, "It's a long time ago." 

"Five years."

"Seems like forever." He speaks so softly I can barely hear him as our glasees are refilled.

He looks up and down at me as though he is trying to find something to say. In the end he leans forward. "Do you know something?" Everything apart from his voice is silent as I stare at the shadows on his face, "When someone dies of the Avada Krevada sometimes they stand there dead for a full minute before they fall down." He pauses, "Its so strange, I've seen it lots of times." He drains the glass and sets it down silently. Inside the bar it is almost empty, it feels very early, the only light comes through the high narrow windows and the waitress refills our glasses every time we look her way.

"The League is meeting tonight." I say.

"The League doesn't stand a chance." He looks as empty as I feel. "Dumbledore had no idea, he's just an old man. Truly he should just kill all the death eaters, they're all crazy, they're all scum." It's suddenly colder and I pull up my collar.

"But then he'd be no better." And my words seem to ring on the air.

"How can there ever be redemption? I could count on one hand the number who might change. He doesn't understand that you have to sacrifice something? If we carry on like this it might go on for years, he might never win." I can feel the whisky burning in my throat. His voice lowers, "Well why should I care at all now, he threw me back to hell, he knew I couldn't refuse, all those dead faces though, I see them all the time. Don't they deserve revenge?" I stare at the empty glass in my hands. "I don't know, I don't know what is for the best anymore." I stop because I don't know what else to say and order more whisky.

We have begun to break, it is nothing serious, its nothing we can't control, it comes and goes with the fear, the lying awake at night and wondering. I cannot even recognise the man I used to know. His features like Dumbledores have seen it all but he is still a young man and there is not even the ghost of a twinkle in his eyes. He starts to speak again slowly, "I could not even begin to show you what they've done. How would you ever forget it, all those glazed eyes, they don't move, they don't see. Pick up the body and it's already cold. There you are with the blood all over you. I am just as much a killer as they are because I never do a thing." I know it as I look into his ageless face, we will never be free of it now, the war might end tomorrow but those dead faces are timeless. The stupid futility of it will never be erased. I cannot answer the questions in his eyes. "Oh it's a bloody mess Snape, it's a bloody, bloody mess." He lifts up his glass,

"To the bloody war then Lupin." It killed us more than any curse could have done. The clink of glass on glass shatters across the room, with its errie, empty tables and chairs.

"Lets go somewhere else." I pause, "Somewhere with more people, it's too quiet in here." We pay the bill and walk out into the grey light. My head feels incredibly light as if I am floating along the pavement. "Lets find somewhere with lots of people and lots of whisky." He nods. The cars and the busses spread big arcs of muddy rainwater as we walk down the dead streets, we walk slowly under a carpet of clouds.

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A.N. Firstly yeah I know its out of character but a lot can happen in five years…. Also I have been meaning to finish the first thing I wrote but I'm in Taiwan and the internet cafes suck because they only have word pad so I can't upload anything… and this place won't let you use floppy disks…anyway maybe I can't be bothered to type it all again in which case it'll be up in about five months when I hopefully go back to England… 


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A/N – Hey, everybody! I'm back! I'm not dead, in case you were wondering, it's just that I think my modem picked up a virus (stupid computer) and the Internet didn't work for the LONGEST time. Now its back up (for a very short time, most likely) and I need to get this up. This is the third part of my story; I just changed the name 'cause I got a great idea. (The story used to be The Gift.) I also got about a million other great ideas, so I'm thinking of making this into a series of stories. What do ya think? I'll only do it if I get a lot of good reviews for the rest of this story. 

Disclaimer-I own the new people at Hogwarts, and JK Rowling owns EVERYTHING else, like usual. 

The Traitor

Part Three

"You're lucky you caught her in time," Madame Pomfrey told Harry and Ron in the hospital wing.

Harry, Ron and Sirius had arrived at Hogwarts after the Nixpheo incident, carrying Hermione. Harry and Ron had managed to dive and catch her, but she fainted and had to be carried back.

"You better get down to the Great Hall," said Madame Pomfrey. "The Sorting must be starting." She left thee room to get some cold cloths. "And don't worry!" she cried over her shoulder. "You're friend will be okay!" 

Harry, Ron and Sirius started down to the Great Hall. They met the new first years on their way in, and hurried inside. As soon as they closed the door, everyone looked at them, expecting to see the first years. But when they saw the three, the Great Hall was suddenly filled with quiet whispers – about Sirius. Harry and Ron hurried to the Gryffindor table, while Sirius went to talk to Professor Dumbledore.

The first years entered the Great Hall, and everyone stopped talking and waited for the Sorting to begin. The Sorting Hat was placed on the stool, opened its "mouth" wide, and started to sing.

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After the Sorting, Harry looked down the table to the new Gryffindors. He wasn't really hungry, since he was worrying about Hermione. 

There were 14 new Gryffindors: 7 boys and 7 girls. Twelve students were first years. There was Lana and her twin Tom, Michael, Violet, Tamara and her twin Joanne, Van, Jeremy, Donald, Andrew, Anastasia and Kimberly. They were all first years. The other two, Joshua and Isabelle, were fifth years. They were exchange students from Canada, and best friends by the looks of it. 

Harry looked up at the other Gryffindors. Parvati Patil was staring at Joshua with a look of awe on her face. Harry snickered. He glanced at the others. Fred and George were staring at Isabelle with the same looks on their faces as Parvati. Ron was doing the same. Harry had to bite his lip to stifle his laughter, and turned back to his dinner. _Looks like Ron forgot about Hermione's accident,_ Harry thought. 

Just then, the doors of the Great Hall opened, and Hermione limped through with the help of Madame Pomfrey. "Hermione!" Harry cried. Ron joined in. "You're okay!" they said in unison. Hermione hurried to the table. 

The three were talking about the adventure with Sirius when they heard a "Hello." 

They looked up. Isabelle was standing there. Harry gasped, and he heard Ron gasp too. Hermione jabbed his stomach with her elbow and said, "Hello!" 

Just then, Dumbledore walked up to the Gryffindor table. "Excuse me, but Joshua, Isabelle, could you please come with me?"

They followed him and Hermione turned on Harry and Ron. "Look, you guys, I know she's pretty, but that's no reason to not be polite!"

Ron rolled his eyes. Harry exclaimed, "It's not that! Didn't you see her eyes?" Hermione shook her head. "They were yellow! YELLOW!"

"Really." Hermione said. 

'They were!"

"All right, I believe you. Now wait until you hear this. I forgot to tell you." She glanced around the table, changed her mind, and pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink. She scratched a letter onto the parchment and handed it to Harry and Ron. They read it and looked up at her in amazement.

A/N: What do you think? I'm not telling you anything on the next parts right now. Just R/R! 


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